5.28: Cloudy Wednesday - Hour 2

But somebody did ask me last week if I could give the top five Louisville football and basketball players of all time, and I did, five best Louisville basketball players of my lifetime that I can remember, because again, I didn't watch Griff play.

griff in that group and all that. But anyways, because football is such a tricky thing as far as like there's so many different positions, there's so many people on the field to where like best football player of all time is rarely ever a conversation anybody has, right, it's best quarterback of all time, best receiver of all time, and quite literally, there's not only a lot of different

positions in football than there is basketball. But you can be a gardener forward and nobody really notices depending upon you can just identifies whatever you want.

didn't seem like enough. I'm gonna do my top four running backs, receivers, quarterbacks, and also defensive players, and it'll be just based off the same thing what I watched and sort of my experience as a fan. And I don't want to make it seem like I'm doing this to be so self serving, but it was a request that I got last week and then I kind of put it off, and then they bumped it and said, hey,

are you gonna do this or not? So for this person, and I'm hope hopefully others will be interested as well, because I last week I learned a lot of you guys didn't agree with my top five basketball players. But again it's just my opinion. And also if you paid attention or maybe you just didn't catch the entire segment, I mean, I was only doing guys that I watched play, you know. So anyways, we'll do that coming up here

before too long. But if you are just not joining us, we are still awaiting a decision formally from.

tell anybody anything until later tonight. Maybe he's somebody that likes to leave people in suspense. Maybe he really doesn't know what he wants to do. That's what I have a hard time believing. I mean, Austin, you were much more recently at that age than I was. I kind of feel like, at this point, wouldn't you, I mean, wouldn't you know what you're gonna do at this point?

Because there's not much information that's gonna change. It could just simply come down to you knowing both options and just not being able to decide which one you'll want to do. Because I think he's got to have at least a gut feeling right by now, even if he hasn't actually filed anything as far as coming back, he hasn't told anybody anything definitively. Even if that's the case,

he probably knows what he's gonna do. But then you would have to ask, Okay, well, if he wants to, if he knows he's coming back, why not say anything.

first round guaranteed. But at this point you're already so close, and you know, they just may have that mentality of you know, tomorrow's not guaranteed, to go ahead, to give it a shot while I'm here, because this is, you know, everything he's probably dreamed of since he's you know, started playing basketball.

I mean, I don't know. So his brother plays for the Ravens. He went to Penn State and was there for a few years, and he's been with the Ravens since twenty twenty one, was a first round pick, and it does look like, yeah, I don't think he's like a star for them, but he's somebody that since being drafted has been has been with them, and they picked up the latest option on his contract. So I mean, maybe that's a factor to where the money is not as big of a thing to him. I mean, I

wouldn't imagine he gets all his brother's money. I don't know, but I'm just trying to think of a scenario where this turns out to where he doesn't come back to Kentucky. And it could mean if he doesn't, it just means he didn't want to. And people are entitled to decide whatever they want to do something I would love to do. Maybe he considered something that you would never want to do.

Everybody's differ. But when you consider the scenario, I just think if he didn't come back, it would be because of reasons that I just can't quite believe are real, meaning that he doesn't like playing at Kentucky, that he doesn't think the team's going to be good next year, and maybe his draft stock would suffer from that. Maybe he just hates college. And but even if all that's the case, the financial component is what would make it

all worth it. Now, maybe somebody's onto something on the text line that his NFL brother has you know, been generous to where he's I mean, look O take always probably already made a lot of money playing college basketball. Therefore another year of doing it would be great. But he also couldn't get paid doing something in basketball next year if he did not sign with a like if he signed a two way deal after being a second round pick, I mean, he would still make good money.

It wouldn't be the big an IL check he's going to get from Kentucky, but it would still be a lot of money to someone that age. And again, he's probably already put away a lot of money because he played at Kentucky last year and was arguably their best player. Now there is the This is something that I hadn't really considered. And I heard I heard KSR talking about a little bit this morning and that and Chris Livingston was one of the guys.

was the second to last pick in the draft. He kind of knew that's where his draft stock was, but he had an agent that told him, if somebody takes you in these late rounds, we're going to get it worked out to where your deal is multi year, to where you know, we're not going to have them guarantee

as much upfront, but they'll guarantee it over time. And I don't know the exact arrangements of his contract, but he got a rare second round contract to where you know, financially it wasn't it wasn't viewed as such a big risk, I suppose, But again, he was in a different situation.

This is a guy who was so highly regarded coming out of high school and it so clearly didn't work out for him in college as far as you know, living up to expectations, to where if he comes back to college for another year and he's once again underwhelming, at that point, the NBA, they don't forget about you, but they feel as if you've proven you weren't, you weren't the guy, so we'll see. But again tonight at midnight is the deadline. And again, if I had to guess,

I would say he's already decided he's coming back. He might have already gone through the process formally of it being official, but as far as an announcement and notification and acknowledgment, nobody's entitled to that.

play of the NFL. And guys who are big time recruits that end up, as you know, at a top school, they end up transferring and I guess they technically still could end up going to the NFL, but I don't know if that. What I found interesting here is that there's two ways to look at it. One, if you are as good as they say, no matter where you go,

you'll show it, you'll play. You don't have any need to transfer because if you are as good as you may, maybe you go to a school and the team stinks and you want to leave because of that reason or a coaching change. But if you are really really good and you end up at one of the top five schools Ohio State, Georgia, Alabama, still, I mean Oregon. Just think of the teams that have been the best in

college football the last seven eight years consistently. If you are as good as advertised and you end up at those schools, it'll all work out to where one you're playing for a really good program and you're making a lot of money, and then when you're ready, you'll go to the NFL. So there's that way of looking at it, meaning if you were a five star and you get there and you don't play, it might mean you're not good enough, and then you end up leaving and just.

that nobody wanted. But anyways, there's the other side I'm getting at is that it's not just harder because you don't even have the chance to play right away if you're really really good young.

make money. They can make money in college. So because of that, it's just much more difficult to get opportunities early on at the bigger schools unless you are elite of the elite of the elite. Like I don't know if Isaac Brown and Duke Watson chose Louisville specifically because

of this. Maybe it had nothing to do with it at all, but those guys probably would have had a harder time getting on the field right away at a place like Texas, at a place like Georgia, at a place like Alabama or Ohio State.

position spot at a bigger program. And if you've got an il money and you've got still a power for program to play in and you've got a bigger opportunity there, I think kids would be foolish enough to take advantage of that because going and sitting can work out as far as development. But why would you do that when you can go and play, get better, make money, and then kind of restart your recruiting process all over again

once you've shown what you can do. I mean, I would hope that you wouldn't do that if you end up at a place like Louisville, because I'm a Louisville fan. But if you did, I wouldn't be shocked because again, like that's like the players have all the control now.

But anyways, this this study says that I'll read directly here says the CBS Sports study, analyzing seven years of INNSTAA transfer portal data twenty eighteen to twenty twenty three for elite high school recruits, reveals that transferring schools may reduce their NFL draft prospects.

one were transferred. So and again, look, that's probably data that would exist if the portal existed twenty years ago, because let's be real, a lot of times these guys who were built as five star recruits don't end up being five star recruits. And I don't say that to knock the people who are who are you know, evaluating high school players, because hey, it's it's it's it's important.

Clearly there's a market for it. But I think you can know as much as anybody's ever known about football and still have a tough time determining, you know, who the best four hundred players are in America. Like, I think that's impossible, if I'm being honest with you. Now, there are certain people that you see that you just know, you can just tell, but that there's not many of those.

So again, I think there's still always going to be this intrigue and excitement from fans about a guy in the portal that came from Georgia, that came from Florida, that came from Michigan or usc.

have no clue what you're getting. You may get a guy who just at your level is better fit to have success, that it was too crowded his position, or you could get a guy who wasn't nearly as good as anybody thought he was, or maybe he got to college and didn't have the resources around him that made him work hard. I mean, you just never know. I mean, I think Louisville has in recent years landed both sides.

They've landed guys who have come from a bigger program and man, they came in and balled out ja Corey Brooks last year at receiver. They met some other guys who came in that were coming from a bigger program that they just couldn't get a lot of action because it was too competitive and they weren't good and left.

and look out for themselves, as they should. But there are only two players in this era, meaning the early era of the portal and nil, where players have transferred more than twice and ended up still getting drafted.

he doesn't necessarily count. I guess Chuck would be Chuck would I guess that would make Shuck the only player in the portal era that has transferred more than twice or maybe even more than once and ended up being drafted. I mean, that doesn't sound like a thing, but I trust CBS Sports as data, and again I'm not just

I'm not just looking for this. This was just an article that broke down just the numbers, and they mentioned those two guys, and I guess technically Tyler Baron counts, but he you know, he didn't.

We have now who Louisville is going to play, and who they're going to play twice, which teams they're gonna get only at home, which teams they're going to get only away.

You'll play fourteen games again, so seven and homes, seven and away against different teams once, and then you'll play annually one team twice. Louisville got SMU as their repeat opponent, and then every year you're gonna get a random team that you play twice to mix it up. And it makes total sense for Duke and Louisville to be gifted with one another on the schedule. And I say that because you want the best conference schedule that you can. And who knows if Louisville ends up being as good

as expected or even if Duke does. But these two teams played in the conference championship last year, so I like it. Clearly Duke was gonna get Carolina twice regardless because they're always going to play twice. So I think, all things considered, with the SEC being down, the fact that you get Duke twice gives you, you know, it could mean that you I mean, having the opportunity is

a good thing. You want the opportunity, but there's also a huge challenge with set opportunity, right, Like you could have like here's a scenario that could absolutely play out next year. I'm not saying it will or even that it's but it's realistic that Duke is by far the only really good team in the country next year from the ACC, and you played them twice and you lost

both times because they're just that good. And then Louisville won a lot of games and they were good, but they didn't have anybody on the schedule that was really that challenging because the ACC isn't great, So that could leave you sort of in a situation you were in this past year. I mean, Clemson being your best win twice was pretty telling for your resume. Doesn't mean you're

not great. It just you know, there was two ways the committee could look at your resume last year, and Louisville clearly did not get the benefit of the doubt, and I believe it's because the conference they play in, and the only real issue I have with that because there was really nothing on Louisville's resume that gives you real proof that they're a really good team, but there's also really nothing that says they're not.

of January. I knew they weren't beating good teams. Though didn't mean I didn't think they were good. I didn't think the teams they played were very good, and clearly the committee didn't either, and it played out that way. So my point is, I think the ACC could be a lot better next year, but the expectation that it's just gonna show up for him on selection Sunday, I

really don't know. What I think is gonna be a really really big opportunity early on in the ACC is to compete with the SEC in the annual ACC SEC Challenge. Because the SEC is going to take a step back, it's not going to be as dominant as it was last year, but it'll still be a really good league and should be for years to come. I mean, Kentucky, we know they're expected to be pretty damn good. Florida's getting back Alex Condon and they got Boogie Flanned so

Tennessee and Rick Barnes, I mean, they're always good. And maybe Nate what's his name? Nata meant maybe he ends up being elite. You also have Calan Arkansas. I don't know how great they're gonna be, but he's always gonna

have talent. How about Bruce Pearl and Auburn, They actually I think will take a step back, but either way, like that's gonna be even if the SEC is down substantially from last year, meaning as far as getting the amount of teams in the tournam let's just say they don't have near the amount of teams in play for the tournament, which again the amount of how many teams made the tournament last year from the SEC. I mean it was a record clearly for them, and I believe

in college basketball. So let's say five of those teams don't make the tournament, you'd still have a good number. And if you are competitive, meaning not only were you competitive in the series where the ACC held its own, but let's say you actually went out and beat some of the good teams that you played, meaning you didn't just have a decent record because your bad teams beat their bad teams like you actually like whoever ends up getting matched up with the top six teams in the

SEC and the ACC SEC Challenge. If you can pete there, it's gonna go a long way for you when you get to conference play, because when you beat up on each other in league play, you just can decide whatever you want as far as what it means, Oh, it means this league's just so good, wins are just so tough to come by, or does it mean that everybody's average? And if this team and that team are that special, they wouldn't have slipped up and lost six or seven

league games. So what you do in the non conference means a lot, and it always has and should. But I know teams are different by the time you get to January February than they are when you play non conference games in November and December. But it doesn't matter. It still counts. It's still a data point that will either hurt you or help you, or I guess potentially just leave you whatever. All right, So let's see, I want to make sure I have this correct. So Louisville

schedule at home this year again, I'm liking what I see. Again, Duke being a repeat opponent is exciting to me. But the home games are going to be against you know, you have Duke Wants an SMU once at home and then you played them at their place. But then the home opponents are Syracuse, Boston College, Notre Dame, Virginia Tech, Virginia, n C State.

their part. But to have an environment to where you feel like it's a big game, it's tough to really envision that because again, as we discussed, the SEC just or the ACC just hasn't been great recently. But I mean Syracuse that's a that's I mean, that's they're not they've not been good lately. But like Syracuse, Notre Dame, Virginia and NC State are teams that I feel like

they give you something. As far as them showing up now, the likes of Stanford and Cal's that those wouldn't do it, And that's why you're going out to the West to play them this year. It would be nice to have Carolina at home because they're a team that clearly is going to bring some interest other than just Louisville fans. So I just can't wait to see you end up with in the acc SEC Challenge because there's a good chance it's gonna be somebody good because they like they

pair you up pretty competitively. Right, It's not like you're gonna I mean, Louisville getting South Carolina would be odd to me, or Vandy even even though Bandy actually was pretty decent last year. So right now you're you know, this isn't today's news. Is not anything regarding your conference schedule. But in the non conference, you've got Kentucky, Tennessee, Cincinnati, Memphis, somebody in the acc SEC Challenge, which I think it was Bose that you reported that he believes it's going

to be Duke. I'm sorry, he believes it's going to be Arkansas. Which if that's the case, then you go down to Fayetteville. I mean, Cal will likely give you.

I mean, even if Cal and Arkansas end up being middle of the pack in the SEC because of the conference being so good, if you beat them at their place, even if they're not even a tournament team, it's probably going to qualify as at Quad one because they're going to probably be in the top seventy five just based off their schedule and then you throw Duke on there twice.

So again, take away the conference non conference. I mean, maybe there ends up being some really good teams in the ACC this year, but that's seven games against teams that should give you some value. And I know Cincinnati and Memphis aren't great signature non conference opponents, but I guess the hope is that they end up being. And I forgot to include Indiana, by the way, that's another team that I think Darian Devreez is a really good coach,

and that should give you another chance. So last year you were competitive in some of the games, some of them not so much, but you were able to claim for a good chunk of the year that the resume doesn't have a real blemish outside of the at the time the Georgia Tech loss. And yeah, you played some of the teams competitively, some of them beat you really bad.

But what I'm getting at is I think a step next year would be, you know, beat these teams, which of course that's always the goal, and I'm sure the oolve is gonna have a roster that will put them in a position to where they can do it, but I think that had to be if it wasn't truly just a mix up and a goof on the NCAA Selection Committee's part where they just swapped Memphis in Louisville on selection Sunday and didn't fix it in time, which I say that tongue in cheek, but I also kind

of believe it kind of. But I think now that more time has passed, I mean, Louisvill's resume left open the opportunity for the committee to do two different things.

I don't know if this was a known thing that they were going to announce this, but seeing it certainly gets me excited for for basketball season, and again, n C State should be a lot better with Will Wade. I think Virginia is going to be good. But what I want, what I wonder are these teams that I think are going to be like I think you'll see a team like Virginia in C in C State Carolina, maybe even I don't know, maybe an SMU like. I think those are the kind of teams that we'll be.

We'll be able to hopefully avoid losing to the bottom of the league to where you know your your fifth place team or your fourth place team's only got four

or five losses. But what it's ultimately going to come down to, Okay, does the committee I view this as a one elite team league with just some others that are just you know, better than the Bombs, or do they view it as an actually strong league that's deserving of not only multiple bids, but decent seeds for the others that aren't the Dukes or maybe even the Louisvilles, and where they can really determine that outside of their metric, meaning the net is what you do in non conference play.

That's why it's so important. And we've never been in this spot before as lois fans, at least that I can think of, used to play in the Big East when it was loaded the ACC until recently, and you could do whatever in the non conference. I shouldn't say whatever, but you could be You could just expect to have so many opportunities to really boost your resume night in and night out in the ACC, and they just hadn't

be in the case recently. Our quick break will go back and wrap up the four o'clock hour right here on Sports Talk seven ninety.

something to drink. I'm getting up to start the day. I've been trying to go to bed really early this week, but I can't do it.

it's just as that. That's if they don't have any responsibilities as far as like doing summer school or a job or playing sports or whatnot, then that's just I mean, that's and also I stayed up way late on summer nights whenever we had early basketball, but I it was also sixteen or seventeen where it didn't. It never never felt different. You know, I could live off a few hours sleep.

like now I can sometimes. In fact, this morning, I mean this morning, because I knew once I got up at whatever that I'm gonna you know, the walk back to the bedroom wasn't okay, Nick, go ahead and get in the shower, get that day started.

can uh at some point. It's not like he's leaving. He's just retiring. He's still gonna be you know. I mean, I'm still gonna have access to him if I need him. But I'm curious if if it was if it was ever like a situation where you've been up, you've been doing things, and you just decided to come here and sleep for the night. I mean, I don't even if

they'd let you do that, I don't think they were before. Yeah, I mean, I I know people who've done it for you know, just because of it was it didn't make a lot of sense to drive home and sleep for two hours and come right back in. And there's plenty of hiding places in here where you could find a spot to sleep, and no, but he would notice that, You're.

work area, the common area, if you will. You're walking past every studio really other than this one directly. So maybe this will be where I come and hang out.

But hopefully I get on a routine and I because what I what I talk about all the time is being so crucial and important is something I sometimes really struggle with, and that is the you know, just not being a routine, not you know, not managed, not managing time as well as I need to, and that show that plays out every day on this show, for being honest with me, not taking breaks when I'm supposed to.

But I think what's happened is that I don't get up now and like have to be anywhere other than my kids at school by eight thirty or nine o'clock. And that's pretty easy to do. So now that I gotta get up, I gotta make sure I'm out of bed by this time. And I got to get ready.

Hopefully that'll kick me in gear, because the reality is this, I've had a lot of freedom in the last few years where I don't actually start my show until three, and then I can you know, I tell myself, oh, You've got plenty of time, and then I end up not taking advantage of said time. Hopefully this new change kicks me in gear to where I'm a little bit

more productive. But what I was gonna say a moment ago before I had a brain fart, was that, like this morning, I woke up at like for the second time, of course, but it was like, I don't know, sevent ten, and I knew that the kids didn't have to be at school in daycare for a little while, but like I was already awake, I didn't go back to sleep. I'd slept enough that there's no way that happened at three something or four am. And that's kind of what

That's what I'm gonna miss. It's just, you know, I wake up whenever, because if I tried to sleep past the time to take them where they need to be in the mornings, I probably couldn't, just because you know, I just I mean, so.